Seminar – 1 unit. The press is the only private industry the Constitution specifically protects, listed in the Bill of Rights alongside religious exercise and political advocacy. In practice, however, freedom of the press often has been treated as a subsidiary right – or no right at all, beyond that the First Amendment separately grants to freedom of speech. We will examine the origins and purpose of the press clause, the debate over its original meaning, and its development through Supreme Court cases such as Near v. Minnesota, the Pentagon Papers, Branzburg v. Hayes and Bartnicki v. Vopper. We will consider specific applications, including source protection, taxation and prior restraint, the differential treatment of press freedom in the federal circuits and state courts, and the watershed decision of New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, which at least one current Supreme Court justice suggests should be overruled. Today, with actual printing presses being junked as publications migrate online, we’ll consider what the press clause means, or should mean, in the digital era.
Final Assessment: Paper
Grading Mode: Letter Grading